Chapter 6 #2
Her chest rose with a breath. “Momma.” She called in her sleep. “I promise. I promise.” The last was breath, falling deeper into the dream which gripped her.
I dropped the sheet and stepped away, before I headed back out and to my own room. I needed to think about this. To plan…and find a way to tell my brothers. Yeah, that’s going to be a whole conversation I don’t want to have.
Still…it had to be done.
I headed back to my room and crawled back into my bed. My sleep was fitful and restless, dreaming of snakes. Ones who licked at me with poisoned, forked tongues.
“Go away.” Theo mumbled, ignoring my presence as he stared at the latest trading information on Yahoo.
I glanced at the still neatly made bed. I swore my brother never fucking slept. “Where were you last night?”
“Why? You going to handcuff me to the house, maybe force us to stay here forever?”
I strode forward, shoving him hard. “Hey, that wasn’t my goddamn call here. You know that.”
He gave me a glare, straightening the collar on his deep blue polo shirt.
“It wasn’t my call. You think I want to stay here…especially now that I…now that I know just how fucked up our family really was…and still is.”
He sneered, eyes blazing with anger. “Maybe you just didn’t look hard enough.”
“Did you know…did you know about mom?”
He scowled. “Did I know about mom what?”
“That she was having an affair.”
That scowled deepened before he looked away. “You’re lying.”
I knew Theo wouldn’t believe a word I said. Not without hard evidence. I had that in spades. I lifted my cell…and our mother’s pleading voice filled the room.
Theo shoved up from his chair so hard it toppled backwards. “What the fuck is that?” His cheeks burned. “Switch it off,” He demanded. “Switch that fucking thing off.”
I did, hitting the button and ending that tortured sound.
I didn’t look at it anymore, only listened.
But part of me still really didn’t believe it.
It was that part of me who still loved her, who saw her as the dutiful wife and the caring mother.
Each time I heard this, that part of me died, leaving behind the man who saw her for what she was.
“That’s a fucking lie.” Theo croaked and turned around, pacing the floor. “That’s a goddamn lie . Someone is playing with us, someone is using our parents death to bring us down.”
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s her. Because I found the place where this was taken…and that’s not all.”
“That’s not all?” His eyes flew wide. “‘Cause that’s not enough?”
“Angelica was in on this as well.”
He froze, his eyes widening. “What…what did you say?”
I stopped mom’s recording too early. “Listen.” I said and pressed play once more. Then, when you’re full of my cum you can get dressed, get your daughter and go home. I’m sure her training will be done by then. It sounds like Angelica is quite the natural when it comes to giving head…
“That little fucking bitch.” He said slowly. “That stuck-up, prissy fucking bitch.”
“There’s a recording.” My voice was husky, fixed on my brother’s reaction.
Part of me knew this was wrong, that the addiction I felt for this was dangerous.
“Show me.” He said instantly, his eyes sparkling. “I want to see it.”
I looked at my cell. “It’s not much, just?—”
“Is it her?”
I slowly nodded.
“Then, I want to see our lying little bitch of a sister.”
Hate seethed in his voice. Out of all of us, he resented her the most, taking our mom’s attention drew his cruelty out into the open.
It wasn’t just rivalry between them, it was a visceral hate, a rage that came from somewhere I didn’t know…
and if I was honest, I didn’t want to know.
I lifted the cell and pressed play knowing with a few blurred seconds of a recording his rage was about to get a whole lot worse.
You will be on your knees. Do you understand?
Yes.
Yes, what?
Yes, Sir.
Theo’s gaze was riveted.
Open.
That’s it. Jesus, that’s it. Deeper…just like you’ve been trained.
“Trained,” my brother’s voice was a husky whisper. He jerked his gaze to mine. “What does he mean by trained?”
I stilled, time to take a steep dive off a cliff. “It seems like mom and our sister were involved in the Order.”
“That stupid cult St. James wanted us to fight? What the fuck does a bunch of rich old fucks have to do with us?”
I looked back at my cell. “I have no idea. But I have a feeling we’re about to find out.”
“Is there more…” he licked his lips, finding my cell. “Maybe we’d understand if there was more footage.”
Jesus, he liked this. First Lincoln, now Theo…and me, don’t forget me.
The idea of our holier than thou sister being forced to her knees made me feel a hunger I’d never felt before.
I was savage in the way I wanted to see that, to watch the fear and the pain in her eyes as she was forced to kneel.
“No.” I whispered. “I don’t have anymore, but you know this means we have to confront her. ”
His long strides made for the door. “Then let’s do it.”
He was so keen, so desperate. I lunged, grabbing his arm and earned a glare.
“Not yet,” I shook my head. “When we confront her it has to be in a way she can’t get away. We’ll force the truth from her one way or another, but we need everyone on board.”
“You mean Jude?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Jude.”
“What about Gabe?”
I shook my head. Our little brother loved her, there was no denying that. He was old enough to defend as well. The moment he heard the recording he’d go to her. That was a fact. We couldn’t have that, not until we found out the truth. “We say nothing to him. Not until she’s told us everything.”
“I fucking knew she was poison.” Theo growled. “I fucking knew it.”
“I need you to come with me to Jude. He won’t listen if it’s just me.”
“That’s because he thinks you hate him.”
I flinched. “I don’t hate him.”
“Then stop forcing him to be part of the business. You know he wants nothing to do with it.”
Anger flared. This was so Theo and Jude.
I leaned closer. “Then maybe he needs to stop driving around in his fucking BMW and spending the money this business creates. Just like you, Theo…you’re either in and part of it, or get the fuck out…
and find a job.” I searched his eyes, remembering all the times I watched him shove a line of coke up his nose. “And stop taking from our clients.”
“Hey.” He grinned. “If they want to take care of my needs, who am I to say no?”
“You’re a fucking Ares.” I answered. “It’s about time you all start acting like one. Now, are you going to help me with our brother, or do I have to do this like I have to everything…on my fucking own?”
“Lead the way.” Theo motioned toward the door like an asshole. “Daddy.”
Motherfucker. I ground my jaw and walked out, heading across the hallway to the south wing…and where Jude’s bedroom sat separate from the rest of us.
My brother wasn’t like me. In fact he wasn’t like any of us, spending his time with his nose deep in books, preferring the company of his yuppy, snobby friends to his own blood. But he was blood, and it was about time he started acting like it.
I didn’t even knock, just bore down on the handle of his bedroom door and pushed in. He was there, huddled over a mess of open books, turning to peer at me over a set of glasses. I stopped and stared. “I didn’t know you wore glasses.”
“I didn’t know you were so fucking rude barging into someone else’s bedroom, although I should have.” He muttered, pulling his glasses free. “You never did respect anyone’s privacy.” He looked past me to Theo. “What now?”
He sat in silence as we closed the door, then proceeded to tell him everything. I showed him mom’s video, some of it at least until he looked away. But when we showed him Angelica he went silent. “That’s not her. It can’t be.”
“It is,” I countered. “You heard it yourself in mom’s video and you can clearly see her.”
“How do we know we’re just not falling into a trap?”
“A trap of what?” Theo snapped. “They already betrayed us. This is the reason why dad died, for all we knowing they could’ve murdered him.”
“Then who murdered mom, Einstein?” Jude muttered.
Theo thought about it as my mind raced trying to make it all fit.
“Maybe Angelica murdered them both.” He said finally.
We all looked at each other. Could a hundred and thirty pound woman kill two people bigger than her? Drugged and tied up, it was possible, except there were no drugs found in their system. Did Angelica have a gun?
No.
I tossed her room, trashing it and there was no evidence of any weapon at all. It didn’t seem plausible. “All I know is she is hiding all of this. Even if it has no connection to their deaths, which I highly doubt it’s still a reason to investigate.
“And exploit.” Theo murmured.
“Come on.” Jude winced. “She’s our sister.”
“Adopted sister.” Theo added. “She was forced on us, remember? Now it’s time to do a little forcing of our own.”
“When?”
Give me the day, okay…then we can do whatever you want. “Tonight,” I answered, slowly meeting their gaze. “We do it tonight.”